Promises To Keep
by ADreamingPeanut
Summary: An AU surrounding Davesprite, if he was Dave's twin brother. Follow him through the course of life with his adopted family, the Lalondes, and through the struggles and triumphs of growing up and making friends while coming to terms with oneself. This is a tale of youth growing into adulthood-–a tale of love, loss, and second chances. Lots of characters, more than we could tag!
1. Prologue

It was raining. The night was dark, cloudy and humid, and between the driving fall of water and the lack of light, perhaps the skidding of the brakes was understandable-perhaps the car folded in and crumpled like a broken doll at the foot of the tree was justifiable, if not justified.

The official medical report listed the driver killed on impact. He had been drunk with his two small twin sons in the back seat. One of those sons was reported fine save for minor injuries-bruises and scrapes, but he was fine save from that-but the other... oh, the other.

The other would never walk, it was estimated. Such a spinal injury during the formative stages of infancy was debilitating. At best, he'd have incomplete paraplegia. The poor boy had no idea what was happening, of course; all he knew was that he hurt and he was afraid, and he cried and cried.

His father's younger brother took them both in-no one knew where to find their mother. After she had broken up with her high school sweetheart and left him the children, she vanished from their lives. So it was that Ambrose Strider with a heavy heart began to look for a full-time job, needing the income to pay for the many costs associated with raising children, not to mention that of arranging a funeral for his brother. At least that was a one-time expense.

And oh, he knew his family had money, but he wasn't really _part _of his family anymore. Calling on them wasn't an option. He put the idea far out of his mind and never came back to it.

For a little over a month, he managed, dropping out of his college career to pursue two day jobs so he could make ends meet. But regularly scheduled hospital visits for a little paraplegic baby are expensive, and healthcare isn't always free, and the bills kept on piling higher and higher and higher.

Eventually, when he was skipping two meals a day to let the boys eat, he realized what he had to do.

Spencer David Strider was taken to an adoption center, and his uncle drove away without looking back.

* * *

Your name is Roxy Lalonde, and you are the world's most determee—dittermine—STUBBORN four year old!

Your mom always uses a different word than stubborn, but that word is not working with you right now. It's a big meaniehead word!

"Moooommyyyy," you draw out her name as you stumble to keep up with her pace and cling to her hand. "Are we getting another baby today?"

She looks down at you with a broad grin, slowing to an easier and slower walk and bouncing Rosiewosie on her hip. Rosie giggles and you feel a bright smile pulling at your cheeks as you reach for her, wanting to touch her cute face and make her giggle again. "Yes, Roxy!" Mommy says, letting go of your hand to ruffle your hair. "Are you excited?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" you jump up and down and clap your hands. It was plenty exciting when Rosie came along because you fiiiinally had someone to play with. Another baby would make it at least one, two, three… TWO times more exciting! You can't wait to meet her. Or him, you don't mind all that much.

A while ago a lady came to visit you at home and you had to sit down with Mommy and Rosie while she asked you aall kinds of questions. You're not really sure you know what most of them meant, but you think they were adult things. Booooring!

Now it's time, though, today you're going to meet your new brother or sister for the first time ever! Mommy woke you up in the morning, waaay too early, but then you remembered what day today is! After that everything went by soooo slowly! Breakfast can wait, you have to meet the new baby! What if she thinks you're not coming if you're late? Would he be sad? You would be!

In your hurry you almost forgot your shoes, but Mommy called you right back. She even let you try to tie your shoes and you aaaalmost had it. Soo close. It didn't matter though, you had more important things on your mind!

And now you're finally here!

All three of you arrive at a big house (it's at least two meters high, so you know it's big) and Mommy stops in front of it to kneel down and look at you.

"Be nice now, Roxy. This is very exciting and new for all of us, so you have to promise to stay close to me and not run off." She holds out her hand with her pinky stretched out. "Pinky Promise?"

You link yours quickly. "Pinky Promise!"

Pink Promises are important, you know that. Mommy almost never asks for one, but when she does it's seer-ius. You can be seer-ius.

She smiles at you and Rosie yawns in her arm. Oh no!

"You can't sleep now! We're here, we're here! Don't you wanna see the baby?" You pap her hand lightly and she whines and paps your nose.

"Mommyyy! Rosie hit me!"

She chuckles and kisses Rosie's head before she can start crying.

"I think Rosie is just tired. She'll have lots of other opportunities to meet him. You can tell her about it when we get home if you want! "

You look at her with wide eyes and get a little jumpy again.

"It's a boy!"

Mommy smiles and nods.

"I always wanted a baby brother! Let's go, I have to meet him! I bet he's really cute, just like Rosie!"

"Just like you."

She kisses your head as well and stands up again, holding out her hand. You take it and grin.

"Yaayyy!" you cheer, bouncing on your feet for a second. You almost almost _almost _run forward into the big big house, but then you remember the Pinky Promise and stop, playing with the hem of your dress instead. You're excited! You can't wait! "Come on, Mommy!" you urge. "Let's go get the baby!"

Mommy laughs. You like the sound, it makes you laugh too! "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

When you get inside, Mommy goes to talk to a lady sitting at a desk. You don't really pay attention to what they talk about because blah blah, booooring Grown-Up Stuff! Instead you tug on Mommy's skirt and gaze around the room at all the colorful decorations, and then when you get bored of those, you slowly and dramatically sink to a seated position on Mommy's feet.

She looks down at you with a smile. "Roxy, honey," she says, "do you want to sit down? This might take a minute."

"I wanna see the baby!" you whine. "When do we get to see the baby?"

The lady behind the desk laughs. She has a low voice compared to Mommy's. "Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" she coos, looking down at you. "Don't worry, dear, you'll get to see him soon enough. But he's very little, he won't be able to play with you!"

Well _duh_, you know that! "Well _duh_, I know that," you say, your hands on your hips. "Mommy says he's the same age as Rosie, which means he'll just nap and cry a lot or throw food at me sometimes, but he's my baby brother! And I want to see him! This is boring!"

Rosie hears her name and coos softly. You giggle and bounce on your feet, distracted for a moment by your baby sister. Then she yawns again and closes her eyes and you sigh loudly as Mommy and the other lady laugh. What's funny? Did you miss something?

Mommy adjusts Rosie on her hip and then looks down at you. "If you are very, very careful," she suggests, "you can go sit down on the chairs over there and hold Rosie while I finish this boring old paperwork up."

Your face immediately lights up. "Yay yay yay! Rosie Rosie Rosie!"

Mommy smiles. You run to the chairs and climb into the comfiest looking one, squirming around to get yourself properly situated and then holding your arms out for Rosie. Mommy gently settles her into your lap and tells you "Don't move her too much, she's tired," and kisses the top of your head before she goes back to the boring Grown-Up Stuff.

You sit super duper still and look down at your sister—_your baby sister_—with awe. Napping and crying and food throwing aside, you love her soooo much! You've always wanted another baby around because being alone is lonely, and now you'll have two!

Rosie sighs in her sleep and her head lolls against your arm. Remembering what Mommy told you last time you held her, you quickly shift to support her neck properly and giggle, kissing her forehead. She's so cute!

A few minutes later, Mommy comes over to you and takes Rosie into her arms again. "Come on, Roxy," she tells you with a bright smile, "it's time to meet your baby brother!"

Your eyes grow wide as you jump down from the chair, and then jump up and down in place a few times with excitement. You're meeting him you're meeting him you're finally meeting him!

The lady from behind the desk is standing now, and she laughs at you for some reason. You ignore that and follow her and Mommy as fast as your legs can carry you down a hallway and around some corners and past a staircase into a room with a crib and another lady who's standing next to a baby in a rocker. You're so excited you could scream! Except you won't because experience with Rosie tells you that's a bad idea around babies.

So instead you hold your breath and stare at him adoringly, your face the picture of delight and wonder. The grown-ups are talking but you don't really hear them as you go over to him. He stares at you, blinking once or twice, and then he reaches for you. You gasp and let him hold your hand, and then you turn around because you have a very important announcement for the grown-ups.

"He's mine," you announce, pointing at him. "My new baby brother."

Mommy beams at you and the other two ladies smile broadly too. "Yes," Mommy says. "He is."

"I love him!" you look back at him, then at them. "He's my favorite baby brother ever!" Then you pause. "And Rosie is my favorite baby sister. I have _two _babies!" This is the most amazing thing ever! You have two whole babies!

The two ladies exchange glances and say something you don't catch to Mommy. You don't catch it because an important question just came to you.

"Mommy?" you interrupt them. "What's my favorite baby brother's name?"

Everyone laughs. "Spencer David Lalonde," one of the ladies says. You wrinkle your nose.

"I like David better than Spencer," you inform them all, and then you turn back to David. "David! Yes you! Hi!"

He blinks at you and you thiiink you see the barest hint of a smile on his chubby cheeks. Yesss he likes you! Also he's still holding your hand. Yesss he double likes you!

You plant a kiss on his forehead like you had with Rosie and then giggle as he gurgles a laugh. "Guess what?" you tell him. "You're my baby brother now! Welcome to the family, you're going to love it here."

* * *

_AN: Hi everyone! Welcome to Promises To Keep, the fic that was born out of two sad Davesprite fans crying that he deserves better than canon gave him. This is the first of (hopefully many) collaborations between A Dreaming Songbird and LordPeanut (you can find both of our individual profiles under ADreamingPeanut's favorite authors)! We're still figuring it out as we go along, just a bit, but we're both very excited for this story and we hope you are too!_

_Just so you know what to expect: This is a David-centric story, but many characters will be prominent, and many more will appear at least once. It's mostly family, friendship, and a tad of romance and a good strong helping of hurt/comfort and angst, because really, anyone who knows us should know better than to expect a fic without angst. The main ship will be Davesprite/Jadesprite!_

For the next month or so, updates will be rather infrequent, as both of us are really busy. We're starting now in honor of 4/13, even if we are a little late!

_Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the story! _


	2. In Which It Snows And People Are Mean

_Five years later. _

"Hey, hey David! Wake up!"

The whispers wakes you but it's the shaking that makes you groan and pull the blanket over your head. You don't want to wake up, it's probably only twelve or seven in the morning!

Your shoulder is shaken again and when you don't respond, someone yanks your blanket off with a big tug. Nooo come back, it's cold! You open your eyes slowly to see your sisters standing over your bed. Roxy is holding your blanket, the thief. They're both grinning, that can't be good.

You pull your Big Bird plushy closer. "Go 'way."

Roxy drops the blanket and puts her hands to her hips. "Nuh, uh, you gotta wake up and play with us!"

Rosie climbs on your bed and sits on your legs, leaning in close. "It snowed." She whispers with a grin.

_That_ gets you to wake up properly and suddenly Rosie sitting on you is a problem. You _have_ to get up now, it hasn't snowed in at least eleventeen days!

"Are we gonna go out? When can we go out?" You sit up and lean on your hands. Rosie gets off of you again.

"Roxy asked Mommy and she said that we can go now. She's making hot chocolate later!" Yessss, even better! Hot chocolate is your favorite drink ever, you love it! Well, when it's cold you like it. In summer you love orange juice! But it's not summer and you want some hot chocolate, now that Roxy stole your blanket.

"With marshmallows!" Roxy calls from the foot of your bed where your chair stays while you're asleep. She rolls it over and helps you get in properly. When she starts rolling you away you realize something.

"Wait!"

She stops abruptly. "What, what did we forget?"

You stretch your arm to your bed and make a grabbing motion with your hand. "Bird!"

Rosie is already on her way to get it and when she turns around to give it to you, you see her shaking her head at Roxy. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she says just like Mommy does when one of you does something bad. You grin when she hands you the plushy and sit it on your lap so it can see where you're going.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Davie!" Roxy wraps her arms around you from behind and squeezes tight. "I won't forget again, I promise!"

You giggle and give her hand a quick peck. "It's okay. Now let's go!"

"Yes!" The arms disappear again and the next thing you know you're squealing with laughter as Roxy runs down the hallway, rolling you along. Rosie is running next to you and trails her hand on the first floor railing.

All three of you reach the lift and Rosie quickly presses the button five times. Behind you, Roxy sighs. "It's not gonna come faster like that Rosie."

"Yes, it will!" She replies with her hands at her sides. "I did that once and it came really fast. I can prove it too, David was there!"

You nod really fast and turn around to look at Roxy. "She's right, it was really fast and we were downstairs in two seconds!"

She sighs again, like she always does when she thinks that you're too young to understand something. You don't like that. By the look Rosie is giving her, neither does she.

The lift dings and the moment is over. You burst into giggles and both of your sisters join in a second later.

When you reach the ground floor, the three of you hurry into the living room, where Mommy is sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper. You don't know why she does, it doesn't even have any nice pictures!

She looks up and smiles, setting the mug she was holding onto the little table by the couch. For a second you think it's hot chocolate, but then the smell hits you and you wrinkle your nose. Coffee. That's even worse than newspaper! When you grow up, you're going to do a looot of stuff differently. Roxy always says she wants to be president when she grows up, and you've already made a list to show her of what you want to change. Making coffee ilegil, no, illigal, _not allowed, _is really high up. Of course, this list is all in your head because you can't write yet, but next year you and Rosie are starting school. You're both super excited!

"Ready to go outside, chickadees?" she asks, folding the paper and setting it down on the cushions. "Or do you want breakfast first?"

"We go out!" you immediately shout, because who would ever want to stay inside to wait on food when there is snow out there! You just have to make sure you tell Mommy that, because grown-ups do weird things like drinking coffee instead of hot chocolate, and you never know. Maybe grown-ups also stay inside when there is snow. They're _weird_.

Mommy laughs and you giggle, not even really knowing why but knowing that if Mommy is laughing you are laughing. Then she stands up, picks up your favorite orange scarf from the sofa, and walks over to you, kneeling and wrapping it snugly around your neck. "You can go out," she says, "but you have to layer up first! We don't want anyone getting sick, right?"

"Right!" Rose agrees. "Being sick is bad, I don't like it!"

Mommy ruffles her hair. "Well said, squiddle," she says. "No one likes being sick! Do you mind running to the laundry room to get your brother's coat? We don't want baby bird being sick either!"

"Should I go get hats and mittens?" Roxy asks eagerly as Rose nods and runs off, already starting to bounce to the stairs. "I'll get hats and mittens!"

That leaves you and Mommy. You hold out your arms to her, and she picks you up, sets you on her hip, and plants a kiss on your forehead, which makes you make a face and scrub at it because it makes you feel like there's makeup on your head. Ewww. She laughs at that and bounces you slightly.

"Are you gonna make hot chocolate?" you ask anxiously. This is a very important question!

"Of course," she smiles. "It's not a snow day without hot chocolate, is it?"

"No," you shake your head seriously. It's good that even though she's a grown-up, Mommy gets this very important fact. "With marshmallows?"

"And whipped cream," she adds, grinning at you. "Maybe even both! Who knows!"

"Both?" you repeat, feeling your eyes go wide with wonder. Marshmallows _and _whipped cream in one cup? That sounds ... that sounds _awesome_!

Scampering footsteps skid around the corner back into the sitting room and you look over Mommy's shoulder to see Roxy pulling Rosie by the hand, both of them carrying all the winter clothes that you all forgot upstairs in your excitement about the snow. You make a face because it'll take _forever _to put them on, but obediently you sit as Mommy puts you down and helps you get the sweater and big coat on.

Roxy is done fumbling with the buttons on her coat as Mommy puts your socks and boots on, and she stands there bouncing in place. "Come on come on come on!"

"Calm down, kitten," Mommy smiles at her. "Just a second, let's make sure David stays nice and warm!"

You make a face again and Roxy laughs as she drops to her knees, putting your other boot on and tying a clumsy knot. "There!" she says. "All done!"

"Yay!" you cheer, throwing your mittened hands into the air. Rose claps hers gleefully and then runs around to push your chair. Roxy quickly takes over for her, going to the back door. Mommy opens it for you, letting the three of you out into the yard, and then kisses each of you on the head before she goes back inside.

"Hot chocolate will be ready soon, and so will breakfast!" she calls to you from the doorway, but you're already grabbing a handful of snow from the railing on the back deck to fling at Roxy, and you barely hear a word she says over the sound of your own giddy laughter.

* * *

So it goes, and as you grow up you don't find your family lacking in anything at all. You're happy as can be, with you and Rose and Roxy and Mom. Some people wonder why you don't also have a Dad, but you just shrug and Roxy says that Mom is too awesome to need a husband, and Rose nods staunchly in agreement, and that's that.

Right now you're wheeling down the hallway to Mrs. Derrint's history class, which is on the second floor of your school building. Thank god it has an elevator, not all places do. It's normally only for teachers, but you get a special pass. One other person is allowed with you and it's usually Rose, but today she and you have different classes before history, so you just meet up there.

Hopefully you're going to more interesting stuff today, not look at a dumb map all day. You already _know_ where all the continents are, you've had Mom read them to you when you were smaller. You're big enough for the new stuff now, _duh._

When you reach the classroom everyone is already going in, so you hurry up and wheel in right before Rose, who is nice enough to hold the door open for you. She smiles at you as you pass her and you smile back before rolling over to your desk by the door.

While you get your books from your bag, Mrs. Derrint connects her computer with the beamer and pulls up a big picture of the world map. Nooo…

You slump in your chair and watch as she turns to the class with a big smile. She claps her hands together and the rest of the students start paying attention too.

"Good afternoon class!" she begins with a bright voice. You like Mrs. Derrint, she's always so cheerful. "I know it's Wednesday again and you're all tired and want to go home already, I for one can't wait to go take a nap too! So get your brains in gear for the last lap now, let's have a little revision of last week's topics!"

A collective groan goes out from the class. You perk up. A revision, huh? You don't mind at all because it usually means that, depending on how well the class does, you'll go on to the next topic this lesson.

"Mark!" your teacher continues after some of the clamour has quieted down again. "would you like to tell me what the seven continents are called and point them out on the map for me? It doesn't have to be in alphabetical order, but it _would_ gain you an extra mark!"

Not him! Mark _never_ pays attention and he doesn't _ever_ know an answer! Thanks to him, you're probably going to learn the dumb continents for another five months!

He looks up at the call of his name and his face tells you he hasn't been paying attention just now. Great! Mrs. Derrint repeats her question, but there is still nothing in his face that makes it seem like he knows the answer. "I dunno.", he shrugs and you groan internally.

Mrs. Derrint sighs. "Well, if Mark doesn't know, would anybody else like to try for an extra mark?" Your hand shoots up. Maybe you can still save this! "Yes, David?"

You list them off on your fingers and point at the map in turn. "The continents are Africa, Antarctica, Aus-no! Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America."

"Nicely done, David!" She writes down your extra mark in her Big Book. "You've really earned that one."

You grin. From the corner of your eye you spot Mark giving you a dirty look. You ignore him. He should've been paying attention.

The rest of the lesson is much better, now that you've gone on to more interesting stuff. Countries! It passes much too quickly in your opinion, but when you and Rose go to the elevator together you hear your stomach grumble. Maybe a break is good too. Mom always has an afternoon snack ready for when you get home.

Rose presses the button once and leans back against the wall next to the lift. Some time ago the two of you figured out that pressing it more than once doesn't actually make it faster. You were both disappointed for weeks.

"Why do you always try so hard?" A voice comes from behind Rose and she turns around to stand next to you. Mark crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Is it because you're _scared_ Rose's family will give you away too?"

You frown. "Shut up, Mark." Next to you, Rose tightens her hands into fists.

He shrugs. "Whaaat, I'm just telling the truth. You don't even _look_ like them, there's no _way_ you're related. I bet they were much happier before _you_ came along."

It's like he just threw a bucket of ice water over your head. You freeze and go very still, losing the happiness from class and even your calmness as a seed of anxiety starts to grow in your core. You want to vanish from here, you don't want this to be happening, you just want to go home, and you have no idea what to say to this, you just want to flee-

Rose takes a step forward, her voice cutting like a razor. "He said, shut up."

"Ohhh!" Mark raises his hands to his chest and waves them around. "Can't even speak for yourself, can you? Do you have Rose to do that for you?"

As you shrink a little further into your chair, Rose takes one last step forward and looks him straight in the eyes, glaring icy daggers. "No, but at least whenever he talks, it's not complete garbage. You can't say the same about yourself, _Mark_."

Before he can say or do anything, the elevator dings and Mr. Brown takes a step out, only to stop and look at the three of you. "What is going on here?"

"Nothing!" you say quickly, because you know Rose would make a big deal out of it and that's the last thing you want. You would much rather let the floor swallow you and have no one notice, thanks. "Nothing."

"Alright then," he hums thoughtfully, eyeing each of you in turn. "but if it's nothing, then may I pass, please?"

You and Rose get out of the way, Mark just turns around and leaves. Once the elevator door closes, Rose speaks up, glancing at you with concern. "Are you okay?"

You shrug and fiddle with the zipper on your jacket, not meeting her gaze. You don't want to talk about it.

"He's wrong, you know."

"I guess."

The door opens again and you get out on the ground floor. On the way outside you're both quiet, but you can tell Rose is looking for the right words to say. When you get outside, Roxy is already waiting on the sidewalk. Her school usually finishes a little earlier than yours, so she comes to pick you and Rose up whenever she can.

"Hey, kiddos!" With a grin, she walks up to you, but looking at your faces, it quickly turns into a frown. "Everything alright?"

Another shrug. Rose bites her lip and grabs the straps on her backpack, her fingers sort of digging into the fabric. "A boy in our class said some mean things, so um-"

"I'm gonna talk to Mom." you interrupt her and they look at you. You focus on the tiny white flower in the grass right by the sidewalk instead of their faces, though. "I don't know what she's gonna say but, but I'll talk to her."

Rose nods firmly while Roxy leans down to kiss the top of your head like Mom sometimes does when you're sad.

That being said, the three of you go quiet. During the walk home you think of what Mark said. Does Mom really think you're annoying? Would she be happier if you weren't there? He's kind of right, even though you don't want to admit that, because someone already didn't want you, so why should this be any different? You notice Roxy and Rose arguing by shooting each other different types of glares over your head, is this a sister thing? You've never had an argument like that, oh God Mark was right, you really don't belong with them. There's a drop on your shirt, is it raining? Another falls right next to it and- oh. Oh, okay.

It feels like ages for you to get home, but at the same time you're sort of glad for it. You don't want to ask Mom. You don't want to hear what she says. You just want to… You don't even know what you want. You want to forget any of this happened, you want to get it over with, you want ... you don't know. You don't know.

"David?" Roxy says quietly, as Rose opens the door. She steps in front of you and looks down at you, her eyes going a little wide at the sight of your tears, and immediately wipes them away, shaking her head. "What's wrong? What did that boy say?"

Even as she hugs you and you hug her back you shake your head. "I want Mommy, I want to talk to Mommy," you wail into her shirt, your voice coming out as more of a plaintive whine than actual words. It's so wrong and unfair and-you had been having such a good day, too!

"Oh, no..." Roxy murmurs, stroking your back almost frantically as she tries to console you. Then she wraps her arms around you and picks you up with a grunt of effort-she recently hit a big growth spurt and got taller, but you and Rose have gotten bigger too so you don't think she'll be able to carry you for much longer-and hurries inside, leaving Rose to get your chair.

You sniffle and bury your face in her shoulder, trusting that she won't drop you, and close your eyes as she carries you through the familiar space of your house. It feels like home and so does your sister, she feels like home and family and this has to be right, isn't it? Mark is wrong, isn't he? ... Isn't he?

"Mom!" Roxy calls as she stumbles to her knees, setting you gently on the big soft couch in the living room before she climbs up next to you and wraps her arms around you. Rose wheels your chair in from the other room and then runs to join you both on the couch, too. "Mom, come here!"

Within a few seconds, Mom appears from her office, the bright grin that always greets you quickly fading to a look of dismayed concern. "What happened?" she asks Roxy, walking over quickly. Rose scoots over to make room for her to sit down and draw you into her lap, and she turns her attention to you. "What happened, baby bird?" She kisses the top of your head, just like Roxy had earlier, and hugs you.

You sniffle and lean against her, scrubbing at your eyes. "Mark said... Mark said that I don't belong with you and that you would be happier if I wasn't here and that I'm always in the way and, and, and ..." That's about all of what he said, but that's not all of what he made you _think_, and you just burst into tears again.

Beside you, Roxy shifts and when you look up at her she looks _furious_. "He said _what_?" she cries, outraged, and opens her mouth to continue when Mom puts a hand on her knee for a second, giving her a warning look.

"Kitten," she says quietly. Roxy pipes down, obviously seething.

"I was going to punch him," Rose adds quietly, "but Mr. Brown was there."

"And he didn't say anything?" Mom asks sharply as Roxy nods approvingly at Rose.

"He didn't see the whole thing," you sniffle. "He just-he just came in at the end. We were waiting on the elevator."

"I see," Mom says, then discards whatever thoughts she was having and hugs you tightly. "Don't you listen to a word he said, baby bird," she murmurs into your hair as you cling to her. "He isn't the one who's part of this family. That's you. He doesn't know a thing about how we work. We would all be much, much sadder if we didn't have you, you know that?"

You don't say anything, but you do feel a little better. You know Mom would never lie to you, so it has to be true that they really want you around. Mark is wrong. He has to be. Right?

Another thought occurs to you. "But, but then," you swallow around the lump in your throat. "why didn't they want me?"

She pauses for a moment and sighs softly, running her fingers through your hair. Finally, she looks down at you and asks, "Do you want your sisters to hear? They don't have to if you don't want them to."

Why in the world wouldn't you want Rose and Roxy to hear whatever Mom has to say? You know you'd just go tell them later, anyway. So you just nod and wait for her to go on.

"It's not ... it isn't that they didn't want you," she says, as if she's choosing her words carefully, or maybe just thinking hard. "It's that they couldn't keep you."

"What does that mean?" you ask. You've known you weren't her son biologically because that would have made you like Rose's twin, but you aren't twins, you have different birthdays, but you've never really wondered about your actual-no, not your _actual_ mom, your biological mom. Your actual mom is holding you now. You're still ... starting to wonder, though.

Mom takes a moment and weighs her words. "It means that they would have kept you, but they couldn't afford to take care of a child," she says finally. "They were barely more than children themselves."

You don't really know what she means by that part, but you nod and take that in quietly. "Do you think ... they would want me if they _could_?" You almost want to meet your parents now. Just to tell them you aren't mad at them. They might be afraid you're mad, if they had to give you away.

Rose looks distraught. "Do you want to go back to them?" she asks. Mom hushes her gently as you firmly shake your head.

"No, no! I just ... I want to talk to them," you say. And then you think about the actuality of talking to grown-ups and shrink back against Mom, adding "But not now. Later. When I'm bigger."

Mom chuckles slightly and hugs you again. "We might be able to see about that," she says, dropping another kiss to the top of your head. "For now, though, do you want an after school snack?"

Wiping the last of the tears from your face, you nod earnestly. "Yes, please."

It isn't the last time you'll think about this, you already know that. But for now, you want to stop thinking about them and about stupid Mark. You want to eat some food and sit with your real, actual family, and be happy.

So, as Roxy hops up to help Mom cook and Rose slips her hand into yours and fumbles at the TV remote with the other just in time to catch your favorite cartoon, that's what you do.

* * *

_AN: Chapter two is up! Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long, exams are a chore. To make up for it, here's an extra long chapter, just for you. Updates are probably still going to be rather slow because that amazing, well liked time of the year isn't quiiite over yet, but we'll get there! We have a lot planned for this AU._

_Thanks for being so patient!_


	3. Wherein Accidents Happen

You hate her. You hate her you hate her you hate her!

Seriously, what the fuck made her think that was an okay thing to do? _Oh David, let's go on a ride, it'll be FUN! _Not.

Everything hurts as you sit in the hospital's waiting room and the loud bustling of apparently the entire population of New York City is really not making it any better. Especially that baby three rows behind you, why won't it stop crying. Someone make it stop crying. God, you _hurt_, and that baby needs to stop crying before you scream too.

A hand grabs for your shoulder searchingly and after finding its victim, the poking starts.

Poke-poke poke-poke poke-poke.

You're not going to give her the satisfaction of looking over. "No." you say instead and a second later you could slap yourself for it, because whether you look or not doesn't make a difference with her. Your voice is all she needs to start badgering you verbally, too. You scoot away in disgust, but don't get far in the tiny waiting room chairs before your arm touches the armrest and you bite the inside of your cheek, hard, to swallow the yelp of pain that rose in your throat.

"Daviiid..." Her voice is nasal and ridiculous thanks to the wads of tissue stuffed in her nostrils and you feel an odd sense of satisfaction at that. "Daavid, are you there? I'm sooorry."

"No, you're not." You try to keep your voice steady, even though the constant throbbing pain in your arm makes you want to cry. "You're only saying that because we got hurt. If we didn't, you'd be asking me for another ride right now, don't you dare lie to me."

She sniffs and immediately winces, removing her arm from your shoulder to hold her nose. "Okay fine, maybe. It was fun, though! Admit it, before we crashed it was just like a rollercoaster!"

Oh, she did _not_. Your head snaps in her direction. "No, it wasn't!" You snarl at her. "I never even said yes! If we're being real here, I _told_ you it was a bad idea! You came at me like," you do your best to make your impression of her as ridiculous as possible. "_Look at me, I'm Terezi and I have the beeest ideas! Hey David, let's go for a ride down the hill!_" You switch back to your own voice. "Maybe that's not such a good idea because you know, I can't walk and you can't see, maybe some other time." You cackle in a high-pitched voice_. "Fuck that, it'll be fun, come on!_ Terezi, stop! _Wheeee!_ And then, crashing noises!" With your good hand you grab hers and wave it in the air between you two, mimicking an explosion.

She wrenches it away from you with a violent tug and scoffs. "I get it! God, yeah, I get it! Fine, I fucked up. Are you happy?"

You lean back against the waiting room's seat. It's plastic and uncomfortable. You want your wheelchair but _of course_ the left front wheel got bent in your spectacular crash. Of course. You're stuck in this stupid chair and you can't move because your legs always give out after a few steps and you _hurt _and you hate everything about this! "No, I'm not."

The next few minutes pass in silence, both of you sulking angrily in your chairs. You wish Mom were here. You were on the phone with her earlier, when Terezi's mom drove the two of you to the hospital, and she said she'll be there as soon as possible. Tuesdays are long work days at the lab, you hope she can get here before you see a doctor.

You don't mind doctors, doctors are okay. You've been visiting doctors your entire life, you're not afraid of a needle or whatever, not even those gross wooden sticks you get shoved down your throat really bother you. What you _don't_ like is a new doctor you haven't been to before. They'll ask questions you don't know the answer to and you need to explain everything twice because they want to hear it from _your_ perspective. Yes, since I was five months old. No, it was his fault, he was drunk. Yes, physiotherapy is twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays.

This time it's gonna be even worse if Mom isn't here, she usually jumps in for you if you can't explain something. You don't want to go alone.

When you arrived, you had high hopes, since the line to the counter was longer than the scarves Rose knits, and let you tell you, that's a fucking _feat_, but now you're not that optimistic anymore. Mrs. Pyrope is already talking to the guy at the desk, making curt hand movements just like Terezi does when she's agitated. The baby from three rows back has shut up now. Fucking finally.

Terezi doesn't try to talk to you again. Good, you think. She's been doing all kinds of bullshit lately, this is the last straw. You're only sort of friends with her because she and Aradia roleplay together, anyway. Maybe this whole thing was a way to get to know you better? You don't care, she just blew any chance of you being friends. Call it petty but you don't like people who touch you without permission. _Especially_ people who touch your wheelchair without permission.

Mrs. Pyrope is on her way over again with a disgruntled look on her face. Oh man, what's she gonna say? You can't help but shrink back in your chair a little, at least until in doing so you jostle your arm and let out a little involuntary, pathetic whimper. Mrs. Pyrope is _intimidating_. She's tall and walks like she means business, shoulders back and chin up and heels clacking against the floor. She's a lawyer and she looks the part and you're a bit nervous, fidgeting as you try your best to meet her gaze.

She comes to stand before you and throws her hands in the air in exasperation. "These people are incredible! No form or organization at all! How is _anything_ supposed to work here?"

Terezi snorts but aborts halfway through to make a pained groan. "Did you sue them?"

Her mother narrows her eyes at her. "Don't try to joke around, Terezi. I'm still mad at you. I did _not_ sue them, you two were already put on the waiting list a while ago, and even if you weren't, that's not grounds to sue anyone. I was asking for a new wheelchair for you, David." She looks at you and eases up her stern expression a little.

You shift and try to readjust your hold on your arm, wincing and dropping your gaze, uncomfortable. "Thanks but my Mom is going to bring me my replacement when she gets here anyway, so, um, that's not really necessary." Your voice is squeaky and your words tumble out in a rush and god you're so nervous right now, and you don't even know why!

She waves a hand dismissively. "Nonsense, you can't just sit in the waiting room like this until she does. It's almost five, so the traffic will be terrible, and she'll be in the middle of that, and I won't have you just sitting here until whatever moment she arrives. The least I can do to apologize for Terezi's unacceptable behaviour is make sure you're as comfortable as it gets." There's an indignant huff next to you and Mrs. Pyrope narrows her eyes again, shifting her sharp, piercing gaze to her daughter. You can't help but be relieved her eyes have left you. "Don't think I'm done with you. We _will _talk about this when we get home."

Terezi shrinks back in her chair, looking shamefaced as she turns her face down. You would say she stares at her lap, but she can't see it anyway. What a pretty pickle this is! The blind kid and the one who can't fucking walk are the ones who get into a big fucking accident and end up in the emergency room. This is so stupid you might laugh, if you don't start crying first.

Silence falls again until a nurse arrives with a standard edition hospital wheelchair that looks tiny in comparison to his huge frame. He clears his throat and Terezi's mom turns around. "Mrs., um-"

"Pyrope." She cuts through briskly, like she doesn't have time for this. "Ah, great, you're here."

The nurse nods and looks at his clipboard for a second. "Mrs. Pyrope. Doctor Foster is free now, if you'll follow me, ma'am."

You feel a jolt of nervousness shoot through your body, coiling in your stomach like a cloud of anxious, fretting butterflies. Twisting around you glance at the door but it's no use; Mom still isn't here, and you're stuck in this huge building in pain all on your own. But before you can so much as protest, the big nurse is carefully helping you into the wheelchair and then pushing you down the aisle towards the double doors.

An hour and a half later Terezi, Mrs. Pyrope and you are back in the waiting room, this time because you're waiting for Mom to arrive. While Terezi's nose is all taped up and should take about two weeks to heal, your arm might stay in this dumb white cast for six weeks. Broken radius, Doctor Foster said. At least it wasn't something more serious, she said. Oh joy. You hate looking at it. It's boring and bland and only reminds you of the fact that you now have _three_ limbs that you can't use properly instead of just two, like that wasn't enough already, and you can't even push your chair around anymore or put on your clothes or tie your shoes or, or _anything! _

You swallow around the lump in your throat and shit, _NO, _you're _NOT_ going to cry now, not in front of them or anybody, you are sick and tired of being labelled the weak one who cries anytime something goes wrong. N-no, you're _not_ going to… Quick, something to distract you. There's a flower shop across from you and uh, more patients sitting around in chairs and, and the clickclackclick of heels running on the hospital floor and- Wait, you know that sound. You _know that sound._

"Excuse me, excuse me, sorry, pardon me!" An all too familiar voice calls through the waiting room as you turn around and see Mom push her way through the crowd and turning her head to look for you. Then she spots you and you have never in your life been so glad to see someone. Mom renews her effort and five seconds later she's crouching in front of you and pushing the hair out of your face to get a good look at you.

"David, honey, I'm so sorry, I came as fast as I could. How are you?" She glances at your cast and back to you. "What happened?"

You bite your tongue to pull yourself together because _it's Mom and she's finally here and you just want her to hug you and tell you it's going to be alright_, so you just shrug instead since you're not sure you'd be able to talk right now. She looks so _worried_, but before she can say any more, Mrs. Pyrope steps closer and speaks up.

"Mrs. Lalonde?"

Mom turns her head halfway and gets up from her crouch while never removing her hand from your head. She straightens her skirt a little with her other hand and reaches out to shake the other woman's hand earnestly. "Mrs. Pyrope, I can't thank you enough, you really didn't have to wait up for me, I would have gone with David as soon as I arrived."

Terezi's mum shakes her head and waves her off. "It's no trouble. This whole fiasco was Terezi's fault, I feel like it's my responsibility to do as much as I can. That is also why I took the liberty of covering David's medical bill. See it as an apology on my part."

As Mom starts to argue with Mrs. Pyrope about how that is and isn't necessary, you take the chance to regard Terezi, who's been sitting in her chair with her arms crossed and oddly silent since you came back to the waiting room. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her shoulders hunched, you guess she's feeling pretty guilty, but that doesn't matter to you. You actively hate her and don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

The tap on your shoulder makes you snap your gaze back to Mom and Mrs. Pyrope, who seem to have come to a conclusion in their argument. Mom looks down at you fondly and squeezes your good shoulder gently. "Let's go home, alright?"

You nod quickly and say your thanks to Mrs. Pyrope for everything she's done before Mom takes a hold of the hospital wheelchair's handles and starts pushing you towards the exit.

She doesn't say much until you get to the car, where she helps you in and kisses the top of your head before she closes your door and gets in on her side. After she pulls out of the parking lot and turns the indicator on to make the turn onto the road, she finally asks again, "What happened, David?"

This time you know you have to answer. She let it slide earlier because you were in public and Terezi and her mother were right there, but now it's just the two of you and it's not like you can just not tell your own goddamn mother why exactly you have a cast on your left arm, is it?

"...Terezi pushed me down a hill," you mutter, the fingers on your right hand curling into a fist. Your nails dig into your palm a little. "I _hate _her."

Mom doesn't say anything for a moment. You stare at your reflection in the mirror out the window, then watch cars go by in the rain, and then turn your head to look at her, kind of uncertain and hesitant. You can't really tell what she's thinking and that's kind of unnerving to you, but her lips are pressed together into a firm, disapproving line as she watches the road.

"I see," she says after another moment. The car draws to a stop at a red light and she glances over at you, her face softening. "How long did the doctor say you have the cast on?"

"Six weeks," you mutter, "at most. Maybe less, depending on how fast it heals but we all know _that's_ sure gonna happen." Your gaze drops to your lap, where the cast is staring at you innocently. You don't even have the energy to tell it to fuck off.

"It might," Mom says reasonably. You cast a kind of dirty look in her general direction for a second because you are over here wallowing in a puddle of misery and self-pity and you're not sure how much you appreciate logic and rational thinking right now. It's immature and silly and Mom doesn't deserve any of your moody teen crap today, so you try to pull yourself together for the rest of the ride home. Neither of you speaks but you can tell she's not happy. Probably because you got turned into Splash Mountain with a little more concrete than water rather than anything you did. You pray to whoever is out there that she won't insist on talking to Mrs. Pyrope again.

Half an hour later she pulls up in your driveway but before Mom even gets the chance to help you out of the car the door flies open and both your sisters spill out and towards you in a rush. While Roxy tries not to slip on the wet tiles in her hurry to get to you, Rose quickly ends a call with "... they just arrived, I'm going to call you when I know what happened."

Mom steps aside to get your chair and Roxy slides to a halt in front of you. Wow, her lipstick is smudged and she hasn't fixed it yet, she must've really been worried. Her eyes wander to your cast and she inhales sharply. "David, honey no! What did you _do?_"

You put on a brave face and grin sheepishly, you don't want to get snippy at her. "It's not so much what _I_ did but whatever. Broke my arm, no biggie. Three down, one to go, haha amiright?"

"David!" Rose looks at you like your self-depreciating joke didn't come across well and well, that's ridiculous. Laughing about injury is obviously the best way to go about getting rid of existential crisis' on the topic of mobility and your lacking usefulness. Just stuff that fucker in a box and hand it to Pandora, nothing can go wrong here, nope.

Roxy frowns and and takes your chair from Mom to help you get in without bumping your arm too much. Day one of total and complete dependence on others, yayy! At least it's your right hand, you're not sure how long you could make it without even being able to write properly.

Rose walks next to you on the way in. "Kanaya just called, she couldn't reach you, none of us could, actually. Did you play too much Angry Birds again, is that it?"

Roxy snorts from behind and you groan loudly. "Rose that was like _one_ time. I don't even have that stupid app anymore, it was just a waste of time."

"Really?" She sidles up close to you and smirks. "More like you couldn't beat a level and decided to hide the shame from everyone who ever respected you as a _real_ gamer."

She stands back up properly, still grinning, but before you can make a compelling argument of 'How Dare You' and 'Go Fuck Yourself', Mom sets down her purse on the coffee table and turns around to the three of you. She still doesn't look to be in the mood for jokes but for now you think she's just glad nothing worse happened. Tired, that's it. You can sympathise.

"Come on now girls, David is tired, you get to bother him any other day anyway. Baby Bird, hush and into bed with you," She checks her watch. "I know it's early but all that adrenaline is bound to wear off soon and you're going to crash in bed, not on the couch. I don't look it but this lady right here can't carry thirteen-year-old twerps anymore."

"What about seventeen-year-old twerps, Mom?" Roxy sets her chin on your head and you blow upwards to catch her face. She turns up her nose. Success. Mom puts a hand on her hip and jokingly points at Roxy with the other.

"Watch it kitten, soon you'll be the one carrying me and then who's going to make the jokes?" All three of you groan. Pftt, she says that every time. It's probably a mum thing all mums discuss on so-called 'Book Club Meetings'. Yeah, right.

"So I have to go to bed, right?" You say because a thought just occurred to you and you think that exceptions can be made in special situations like these. Mom hums in agreement. "Can Roxy and Rose watch a movie in my room then? I _did_ just suffer a terrible, terrible injury, I think only that could make it better." Your sisters both perk up and Roxy wraps her arms around your chest from behind. Rose waves a hand in the air. "That's right, I just recently read an article about how movies are the cure for everything," She explains with raised eyebrows. "David is a patient in dire need, who would you be to hinder his rehabilitation?"

Mom only laughs and shakes her head. "We wouldn't want _that,_ would we?" She shrugs and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Alright, _one_ movie. Then you two need to leave him be, these things really tire you out. And don't forget your painkillers, Roxy, you know where they are." Yesssss, score! The rest of tonight is gonna be awesome, you can tell.

Mom comes over to give you all a good night kiss and tells you that she'll be in her office for a while before bed, as usual. As you're waiting for the lift, Rose suddenly brightens up and puts a hand on your good shoulder. "David. Do you know what this means?"

Oh no, you have a feeling this isn't good. _Especially _since she said in in that tone, the one that always gets Roxy interested and oh yeah, there we go, Roxy straightens up and nods in Rose's direction. "What's the sitch, Lalonde?"

Rose nods right back. "It means, Lalonde, that Lalonde has acquired a whole new and fresh canvas for doodle practice."

…

_Oh no._

* * *

_AN: WOW okay, it's been a while! I know we said after exams but technically it's always after exams, who knew?_

_In all seriousness though, we're going to try to update at least once a month, so see this as the July update! August could be slightly iffy because of holidays and stuff bUT that doesn't mean we won't try!_

_Please leave us a review to tell us what you think!_


	4. Healing

"Oh my gosh, David! I can't believe it, you're really alive after all!"

"Yeah, that's me. Just doing the alivey thing, y'know. Despite the odds."

"Can you _really _blame me for thinking you might have died? You went flying down the hill super fast and smashed into that wall and bam and you were screaming and Terezi was wailing and it looked like it really hurt. And your chair totally got busted!"

"...Thank you," you say, as sarcastically as you can, "for summing that up. Any other facts you want to add?"

"Mmh... she's right, you know; statistically speaking, your accident survival rate is pretty high for someone your age."

"Gee, thanks Rose, that was very inspiring. I'll try to keep up the good work." You give her a deadpan look as you deliver the sentence with an equally deadpan voice, hopefully that should be blunt enough for her. When she gives you a small smile and puts her hand on your shoulder for a second you know you've made your point.

You glance back at your friends standing around you in a semi circle. Aradia covered her mouth to hide a smile at Rose's comment while Kanaya looks at her with shocked disdain. Really, she should be used to that sort of thing by now, it's not like she's ever held back before. You think it might be your cast. It's very white and very hard to miss given that the rest of you is, well, less white. Kanaya often complains about you favouring the colour orange so much. Her loss, it's a dope ass colour, thank you very much. So far, the only thing Rose and Roxy have done to deface the cast were a few doodles of cats and squids and the occasional bird, courtesy of you. Doodles are fine, you can handle that, but god forbid someone tries to write a note along the lines of '_Get well soon! xoxo' _because if that's not the cheesiest thing you've ever seen, then you'd love to meet whoever found something better and give them an award-_congratulations, your shitty sayings are even more of a testament to cheese than curdled milk_. You are nothing if not determined.

The conversation seems to slump for a moment and you take that chance to pick at one of your exposed right fingers absentmindedly. You're pretty sure cutting off their blood supply with a cast like that isn't the best idea but Doctor Foster looked like she knew what she was doing. It's not like you've had a broken arm before. They do feel kind of numb though and it makes you slightly uncomfortable, so you stop picking at your fingers and turn to your pants instead.

Aradia clears her throat. "So… was it an open break?"

The collective groan of disgust and shock goes through your entire group and past the hallway you're gathered in, and you turn to see both Sollux and Karkat walk around the corner, the former with a hand on his face and latter with a grimace. You grin as they join the four of you and Sollux breathes out heavily through his nose. Last night after Rose'd called Kanaya you thought letting your other friends know you're alright wasn't such a bad idea. It was still different to see them in person. "I can't believe you just said that. What made you think that was tactful?"

The girl in question brings up her hands in front of her. "It's a genuine concern! If the bone was exposed to air, the risk of infection is way higher, and trust me, you _don't_ want your bone to be infected. Damara was in the hospital for weeks, it's not fun."

Karkat looks like he's about to spout some nonsense, so you snort to cut him off before he has the chance. Karkat's cool and all but you're still tired and your arm hurts a fuckton even through the painkillers, you don't want to deal with his terrible volume control this early in the morning. Lunchtime is probably the earliest you'll go for. He can schedule an open slot with your secretary. ... _Hire secretary_, you add to your mental list. You have too much shit to do to deal with this yourself. Important shit, like sleeping, ignoring everyone, and hating this cast. "Nah, wasn't open. It still _hurt_, you know. I'm not sure I'd like to find out how much the alternative does."

Kanaya nods seriously. "And neither do we." She moves to put a hand on your good arm but takes it back halfway, like she's afraid to hurt you. Oh, come _ooon_, you're not a baby. You hoped no one would treat you like a porcelain doll but you pretty much guessed that it was a long shot. At least Aradia somehow lacks the ability to do that with anyone.

You remember the first time she asked you to go excavating together. Mom had objected (who would have guessed?) and in the end the two of you agreed to thoroughly examine both of your Cool Old Things under the microscope Mom keeps in her office. She doesn't really use it anyway, it's mostly decorative and therefore perfect for situations like these. When you weren't even close to finishing two hours later, she suggested you meet up again some time soon to continue. By now your weekly hangouts have become a regular thing and Mom sometimes even gets you spare stuff from the lab to look at and dissect. How cool is that?

Kanaya gives you a quick smile as the bell rings. What's your first lesson again? English lit, you think. Not too bad. Almost all of your friends are in the same class, you even managed to sit somewhat close to each other. So while Sollux and Aradia leave to find the math floor, you give Rose a nod and let her take the handles of your wheelchair. Luckily Mr. Pacey's classroom is not too far away from the school's entrance and you don't have to put up with every single student staring at your arm out of morbid curiosity. It's not like you don't notice their usual looks, but this feels different.

On the way, Rose and Kanaya strike up casual conversation, mostly about the movie you watched last night. Despite only having been released in theatres a week ago Roxy somehow managed to get a crystal clear version of _Dark Shadows_ from _wherever_. It was an okay movie you guess, but of course Kanaya would be more interested. To be honest, with all these vampire movies coming out left and right, you think she might get ideas soon. You can't take another vampire sleepover, the _Twilight_ one from last year was bad enough. The thought of the last movie being released later this year makes you shudder. Only figuratively, obviously. In reality you just look miserable.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Karkat looking at you weirdly. (Wait no, never mind, that's just his face.) He notices you looking back and raises an eyebrow questioningly. "Why do you look like someone just handed you a mirror for the first time?"

You stare at him intently. "Vampires, Karkat. Vampires."

"What?"

He gives you this look that's straddling the border between an incredulous _what the fuck_ and an "I can't believe you're this weird/stupid" _what the fuck_. It's his signature expression, but as far as you're concerned, he always ruins it by saying it out loud too, like-

"No, seriously, what the fuck are you even talking about? Those disgustingly overrated mutated mosquitoes have literally nothing to do with _anything _we've been talking about except maybe a little bit about 'Dark Shadows'. Which _was _a pretty good movie, but that still doesn't excuse you blathering on like an idiot. Or do you mean that you can't see your own face in a mirror?"

Incredible. At least the man sticks to his patterns.

You pucker your lips into a professional smoulder and glare at him as soulfully as you can. "It's true Bella, mirrors refuse to show me my reflection, too scared to shatter their fragile hearts in the process. Fragile…" Your voice drops to a deep and pained tone - at least as deep as a thirteen-year-old can manage - and you start to lean in Karkat's direction. "Like yours…" Queue the kissy mouth.

He screams. You're sure he would have punched you too, but it looks like the cast isn't so useless after all, so all he does is flail and yell obscenities at you, while you burst out laughing. This is fucking hilarious, holy shit. Amidst your laughter you manage to lift your left fist to your shoulder and, without even pausing her conversation, Rose bunps you in holy triumph. Kanaya is laughing too. _Damn, _you think, _this is gonna be a good day._

You should have known that was a sign, though. You don't just think things like that and expect shit to work out, nuh uh. So when your group comes around the last corner to Mr. Pacey's room, someone promptly runs into the flailing Karkat. They both yelp and something falls to the floor with a clatter.

"Hey fuckwit, are you _blind?_" He snaps and seems like he regrets it a second later. Of course he does. You think he shouldn't be bothered to look so sorry.

"Yes." Comes the voice. (nasally!) "I am."

Terezi crouches down to retrieve her cane while Vriska, who was walking next to her, sneers at Karkat. "And? You're not going to apologise?"

For a moment he opens his mouth but closes it again, pressing his lips together tightly. Next to you, you can see his hands balling into fists. "No." He says with gritted teeth.

Vriska's eyebrows take a lift and she places one hand on her hip. She sounds like he just told her he'd given up the life of profanity and instead joined a cult of mashed-potato worshippers. Or something equally ridiculous. "No?"

By now, Terezi found her cane again and puts a hand on Vriska's shoulder after a bit of searching. "It's fine, let's just go."

The other girl sighs dramatically and winks at Karkat. "Count yourself lucky, you escaped the spider this time." With that they both walk past you and to wherever their classes were.

Wow. What a fucking coward.

Karkat ruins the moment once again, his only true talent if you can think of one, by making gagging noises well within their earshot. "And you escaped my fucking shoe, you hag!" He screams after them, to no avail though. You thought wrong Vriska, maybe the potato cult will convince him some other time. That's another thing Karkat might be useful for, easing up uncomfortable silences. Sure, he causes them most of the time, but no one is perfect.

When you continue walking, Kanaya lets two of her fingers brush against your right armrest. You know Rose noticed as well, but you shake your head minimally to get them both off your back. What they're trying to do is nice and you appreciate the thought, but the last thing you need right now is anyone's pity. Honestly, the lesson can't start quickly enough.

* * *

Kanaya pushes your chair as you both leave history, your shared last class of the day. You hold your backpack and her messenger bag (you're pretty sure carrying all this shit on one shoulder's gotta be pretty damn uncomfortable, but she said it was the price one had to pay for beauty and shrugged it off with some mysterious Kanaya smile, and you were all like 'ok Kan you do that' and left it there) in your lap as she wheels you out into the sunshine.

"Hm," she hums from behind you. "I wonder where Rose and the rest have gone. Or perhaps they just aren't here yet. I don't see them at the usual spot, do you?"

You wonder how long it'll take for her to remember you're all the fuckin' way down here in a chair, not as tall as she is by a long shot. She keeps peering around, and you don't think she's remembered yet. "Wow, I sure can see a lot of backpacks and asses," you prompt after a second.

"Ah," she says. "I suppose that's your way of saying you don't know what either the backpacks or asses of the rest of our friends look like, then."

You can't help but snicker. "We're probably just early. I mean, we're hot shit, and as they say in nerd physics class, higher temperatures mean higher particulate velocities or whatever, am I right?" Science is... actually hella cool. You affectionately blame Mom and Roxy for your interest in it, even if physics isn't your total cup of tea. Archaeology, now _that's _your shit.

"Or it could merely be that our class is nearest to the door," Kanaya points out, reasonable as ever. You roll your eyes and attempt to cross your arms, except you have this goddamn uncomfortable stupid cast on and backpacks in your lap and long story short, it really, really just doesn't work, so you settle for rolling your eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, go with the boring explanation, why not."

She stops walking now that you've reached the shade of the third tree along the parking lot, the designated spot that your group has more or less claimed for your own during after-school-waiting-for-buses-or-parents time. "At least I had an explanation, yes?"

You're about to reply, except you just caught sight of one of your-your _former _friends. Well, your only former friend. You're usually pretty chill about forgiving people, but... not this time.

Terezi's standing not too far away, and you feel a little bad but you're almost grateful she's blind, because it means she can't see you awkwardly staring at her for a second. She looks like she's hesitating-started walking over here out of habit, probably-but just as you force yourself to pointedly look elsewhere, she reluctantly turns and meanders away. You ... god, okay, you feel more than a little bad, and you can't help but remember that there used to be some really good times with her, but... no. It's over.

Kanaya's hand finds your shoulder, like it almost did this morning. This time, it's not a featherlight, afraid-to-break-poor-broken-David-even-more touch; it's a good one, a nice, friendly one. It's why you don't shrug her off.

"David! Kanaya!" Aradia comes jogging over, her hair messy and face flushed. She has PE for her last class, a fact that you will never stop poking fun at her about because you don't have to ever go in that shitty gymnasium and play dodgeball or whatever. It's like, the one good thing about having useless legs. You glance at your feet with distaste, your glance falling on your cast again, too. And just like that, once again, you feel so fucking _helpless_, because three out of four of your limbs don't work, and it's so stupid, and just-ugh!

"Hello," Kanaya greets her. "How were your afternoon classes?"

Aradia rolls her eyes, a habit you're pretty sure she's picked up from you. "They're classes, same as usual, Kan! More fancy English and more biology. And history! And then PE, but we don't really talk about PE." She shrugs, then drops it to swivel around and look at you again. "So! Friday night! Movie night! What are we watching? Can we bake cookies again? Your mom wasn't that mad about last time, right?"

"She wanted to know how the fuck we got cookie batter on the underside of the dining table more than anything else," you snort. "So yeah. We can do that. By which I mean you can, and I'll just sit there and tell you where shit is."

"Okay!" She seems plenty satisfied with that. "Cookies and movies on a Friday night. Honestly, this is the best idea we've ever had."

"What is?" asks Rose, appearing behind Kanaya so suddenly that she jumps, and you nearly drop your backpack. Aradia bursts into laughter. "Sorry," Rose says, with that smile you know very well to mean _I'm not actually that sorry_. That's something Rose has mastered. She puts a hand on Kanaya's shoulder and adds, "I couldn't resist."

Kanaya's blushing. ...Right, you're gonna just divert the conversation from this _hella obvious flirting_ and go back to movie night. "She was saying movie night is the best thing we've ever done. Even though I feel like it wasn't a collective group idea, it was mostly me inviting people over _once _and then Mom deciding to nag us into asking them over again and then everyone was like shit, free food and TV time, we've gotta show up at the Lalondes' place every weekend."

"So, it was a group decision," Aradia points out. God fucking dammit, what is it with your friends and being reasonable? "Therefore, the best idea we, _plural_, have ever had!"

"Okay, whatever," you shrug, reaching over to flick her arm with your good hand. "Where's Sol and Karkat? The sooner they get their asses over here, the sooner we can-"

"What's the rush? We can't go anywhere until Roxy gets here with the van," Rose points out, _reasonably_, again.

"They still do need to get their butts on over here," Aradia says, looking through the crowd of mingling students, waiting on the bus, to try to see them. She goes up on her tip-toes to check, too, and lets out an exclamation and points, coming back down. "They're coming," she announces. "Probably Mr. Grumpypants let them out late again."

"Most likely," Kanaya agrees. "One day or another, that man will make someone miss the bus home."

"Sure would suck to be that poor asshole," you comment. It definitely is nice to not ride the bus. Perks of having an older sister who can drive you home and gets out of school early enough to do that, right?

As if conjured by the thought, Roxy's van suddenly vrooms on over. She lowers the window and leans out. "Yoo-hoo, kiddos! Ride's here, come on come on!" she calls, waving widely. As everyone starts moving, just as Sollux and Karkat reach you, she hops out of the door to help you, more or less pushing Kanaya out of the way to push your chair. When you get to the van, she wheels you around and helps you into the shotgun seat, planting a kiss on the top of your head. You wrinkle your nose at her, but she just laughs as she goes to put your chair in the back.

"So," Aradia says again, when everyone's settled, "what are we watching?"

"No, Sollux, we are _not _watching Bee Movie," Karkat says immediately. You don't even have to turn around when you hear him yelp _ow!_ to know that Sollux just kicked him.

You can't help but snicker as you lean back in your seat. Ah, yeah, tonight's gonna be just perfect.

* * *

_AN: Well, thanks to this site's login not working for a while, we didn't quite make our monthly deadline. But here it is, chapter four! Look for chapter five at the end of September! :) Thanks for reading, and if you wouldn't mind, drop a review!_


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